Laziness inspires new mower

IT’S a case of the old adage – ask a lazy person the easiest way to do something mundane.

When the sight of a grass-infested half-acre block made John Muehlebach balk, he thought of a way to cut it down to size – a remote controlled mower dubbed the Mow-To by its creator.

The reasoning for Mr Muehlebach’s light-bulb moment?

“Laziness,” he laughed.

“Who likes mowing? Laziness was the motivating force.

“With a normal mower it took me one-and-a-half hours to do our half-acre block but I’ve now cut it down to 45 minutes with the remote controlled mower.”

The electrical engineer takes great delight sitting in the shade under a tree with a cool beverage, controlling the mower with a remote control while neighbours roast in their own juices under the hot sun. And he does have the best lawn in Easey Street.

“It’s a normal push-along mower with a detachable device at the front. It’s run on a re-chargeable battery, with a powerful wheel-chair motor and a spectrum remote control,” Mr Muehlebach said.

“The remote control means someone next door can have one but it won’t interfere with yours.

“This attachment could also be used to help disabled people with their lawns.”

Mr Muehlebach said he was often queried about his contraption’s traction and put his 11-year-old son Jorge to work.

“About two years ago I put a clip of the mower on YouTube, now it’s got about 7500 hits but most people look at the clip of Jorge being pulled on a wagon behind the mower first. So far I’ve sold two,” he said.

“It’s got good traction up and down hills and can pull Jorge along too.

“He often plays with his remote cars on the road but this is a thrill for mowing.”

For $950 a pop, Mr Muehlebach said it was far cheaper than a conventional ride-on.